Inspired after reading siddji's topic of Best Site for MOC Modular step by step creations?, I thought it would be a good idea to have a topic listing some great resources to not only help anyone wanting to design their own modular style houses but also inspire a few ideas as well. Anyway, I came across this simple guide from Eurobricks listing the basics of how to generally get started.

How-To: Modular Buildings
by Aliencat

We regularly see each other at meetings and bring along a construction or two of our own. An ideal standard for combining buildings is the so-called Café Corner Modular Standard (or CCMS for short). Now if you don't own a Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, etcetera, how do you know what rules to follow when making your building fit in with the rest? I will describe the CCMS as applied in Lego's sets and as applied by many fans. There are basically two types of building in this standard.

1. Straight sections

Generally speaking every baseplate is 32 studs deep. The width is variable with straight buildings, always being a multiple of 8 studs. A common used width is 16 studs wide. The connection points, pavement, walls, etcetera, will then have the following sizes:

Whether your building is 8 or 64 studs wide, the sizes in depth are always the same. That way the Technic bricks with a hole will always align and allow for the buildings to be attached to one another through the use of Technic pins.

2. Corner buildings

In the case of a corner building, you are dealing with two connecting points at a 90 degree angle of each other. Therefore, your baseplate will always have to be 32 x 32 studs. Of course you can make the full building larger by attaching straight buildings forming a continuous whole at either side but the corner module must be 32 x 32:

3. Variation in depth sizes

If you look at a real-life (old) street, you will see that not all buildings align in a perfectly straight line: some jut out a bit while others fall a little further back. If you put a number of CCMS buildings in a row, this method of alignment will give you the best result. As long as you leave the Technic bricks in the right position for connecting, you're free to place your front and back wall at will. This might result in something like this:

Keep the variation in mind, because of your side wall. In some cases, part of your side wall will be visible. So if you were planning to omit your side wall, or make one out of all the colors you won't be needing for the front and back walls, make sure that at least the edge of the side wall that juts out is made of a color that fits with the rest of the building.

I myself always build an entire side wall if I know the building is going to end up in a combined layout with other builders because you don't quite know what will end up next to you. For all you know you might end up next to a construction side, leaving your side wall entirely exposed.

4. Height

The last point I wish to address is height. In terms of height, you are basically free to do whatever you want. Make it as tall or as low as you wish. One floor 6 bricks high, eight floors 12 bricks high each, everything is possible. Do keep in mind though, that if you're making a very tall building, your side walls will definitely be visible. So make it into something exciting featuring windows or something, so it's not just one boring, flat wall. Do take care that you won't have anything protruding over the edges, since you may not know how high the building next to yours might be.

Variation in height is another reason to build side walls in a matching color when your creation will end up in a combined layout: the building next to yours might be very low and you won't know ahead of time.

Resources:

• Eurobricks
• Brickhamster

That is an awesome scene

A small building (but the basis for a larger one) by Teabox (henrik_zwomp)

City Bank (3661) Extension MOD by Tim

Modular Lego Museum by Jason Skaare

Republic Avenue Mansion House by Renaud Fichez

Baroque Food Shop by Renaud Fichez

Commodore Dynasty Tower House by Renaud Fichez

Has anyone got a picture of all modulars side by side in order they were released?

Has anyone here tried to MOC their own house?

I'm just starting a project to build my house and garden and current estimate is that it will be 32 studs wide by 128 studs long including garden based on 1 stud = 20cm as standard stair part is 4 studs wide and our stairs are 80cm wide.

Anyone got any tips on building a first moc? Am I best off buying a job lot of random bricks to work out structure before working out exact colours and sizes to order from bricklink? Or working with a lego design tool. if so which one?

Anyone know of any online guides for a project like this?

 

 

If you don't have the parts in your own bulk, I think it's safer to work it out with a digital design software. That would help you with the proportions and parts count.

Anyway, the most important when doing this is the scale. Tom Alphin gives some nice informations there : http://brickarchitect.com/scale/

51 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

Has anyone here tried to MOC their own house?

I'm just starting a project to build my house and garden and current estimate is that it will be 32 studs wide by 128 studs long including garden based on 1 stud = 20cm as standard stair part is 4 studs wide and our stairs are 80cm wide.

Anyone got any tips on building a first moc? Am I best off buying a job lot of random bricks to work out structure before working out exact colours and sizes to order from bricklink? Or working with a lego design tool. if so which one?

Anyone know of any online guides for a project like this?

 

 

What has worked well for me when designing my own MOCs is having access to a small but diverse set of bricks to mock up key concepts (to see if things actually work), but to do the design fully digitally. If you have a Windows or Mac computer, start with LDD. If you don't, or if you want more flexibility, try LDCad or MLCad - LDCad is more like LDD, MLCad is a powerhouse but a little tricky to master (though the guides at holly-wood.it help a lot). You can then generate parts lists and even make your own instructions (I use LPub) and use those to order what you need and build your design in real life.

3 hours ago, Phil B said:

What has worked well for me when designing my own MOCs is having access to a small but diverse set of bricks to mock up key concepts (to see if things actually work), but to do the design fully digitally. If you have a Windows or Mac computer, start with LDD. If you don't, or if you want more flexibility, try LDCad or MLCad - LDCad is more like LDD, MLCad is a powerhouse but a little tricky to master (though the guides at holly-wood.it help a lot). You can then generate parts lists and even make your own instructions (I use LPub) and use those to order what you need and build your design in real life.

Yeah, do this. Definitely try things out using the IRL bricks you have, even if the colors or bricks aren't quite right. But design it as a whole on a design software.

On my only only major project to date (~2200 piece modular), I did the former but not the latter. I ordered a specific quantity of parts for a specific design but once the pieces arrived and I started to piece things together, there were re-designs and I had to make 3-4 waves of BL orders. I could've purchased a (modest) computer just to run the software on then order the parts and it would've been cheaper than doing it the way that I did. At least I ended up with lots of spare bricks hahah

Good luck! We're closing on our first home and building it will be my next project.

untitled by Jean Macou

MOC: Chinatown Apartments by Chris Goddard

19th century architecture

On 17/11/2016 at 2:55 PM, Pedilego said:

Yeah, do this. Definitely try things out using the IRL bricks you have, even if the colors or bricks aren't quite right. But design it as a whole on a design software.

On my only only major project to date (~2200 piece modular), I did the former but not the latter. I ordered a specific quantity of parts for a specific design but once the pieces arrived and I started to piece things together, there were re-designs and I had to make 3-4 waves of BL orders. I could've purchased a (modest) computer just to run the software on then order the parts and it would've been cheaper than doing it the way that I did. At least I ended up with lots of spare bricks hahah

Good luck! We're closing on our first home and building it will be my next project.

I have decided to go down this route.  Busy building it up in LDD. As I want different colour interior and exterior walls I'm thinking of having a facade on the outside like wayne manor in Classic 60's batcave.Means more planning up front but better than having to build double thick walls to achieve the look.

I'd say my main difficulty so far is scale windows and doors.  There's just not enough variety available.

1 hour ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

I have decided to go down this route.  Busy building it up in LDD. As I want different colour interior and exterior walls I'm thinking of having a facade on the outside like wayne manor in Classic 60's batcave.Means more planning up front but better than having to build double thick walls to achieve the look.

I'd say my main difficulty so far is scale windows and doors.  There's just not enough variety available.

You may want to double check both ways... 

Bricklink has a new Beta software out called Stud.io, you can sign up for public beta access. It has the convenient feature of linking to BL, so you can check prices on bricks in real time as you place and colour them. 

My only thought is that getting enough of those big plates to fill a facade, might actually cost more than double layering more common size bricks in two colours. Worth checking the numbers on anyway I think. 

Icecream Store by Hudson LI

Supermarket by Hudson LI

Zara Clothes Shop - Modular Building by Olímpio Albano